United Nations must take action to protect human rights defenders from digital transnational repression
Today, Hong Kong Watch participated in a United Nations online consultation convened by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), presenting evidence of technology-facilitated transnational repression targeting Hong Kong human rights defenders and calling on UN member states to take action.
The consultation forms part of the OHCHR’s broader process, mandated following the 58th Human Rights Council session in March 2025, to assess the risks digital technologies pose to human rights defenders and identify best practices to address those risks across different regions.
Drawing on our written submission and report Invisible Decline: Violations of Digital Rights in Hong Kong and their Impact, Hong Kong Watch’s Advocacy Officer Landson Chan described an escalating trend of technology-facilitated acts of repression. Attacks against Hong Kong activists are no longer confined to the digital sphere, but increasingly extend across sovereign borders to persecute exiled individuals in their new countries of residence.
Mr Chan provided examples on how technology-facilitated attacks reach beyond the digital sphere. In the UK, Carmen Lau was targeted with sexually explicit deepfake images that were printed and sent to her former neighbours. In Australia, a fabricated poster of the wife of former Hong Kong legislator and Hong Kong Watch Advisor Ted Hui, depicting her as a sex worker offering sexual services, was distributed near their home. In Canada, activists have received Telegram messages revealing personal details alongside explicit threats of violence, creating a climate of fear around continued advocacy.
These incidents form part of a broader pattern. Doxxing campaigns have exposed sensitive personal information, including home addresses and family details, while waves of anonymous threats from fake accounts and spoofed identities are used to overwhelm targets.
Based on this evidence, Mr Chan put forward three concrete asks to the United Nations:
Formal recognition of technology-facilitated transnational repression: UN member states must recognise technology-facilitated transnational repression as a distinct and serious category of harm. This category warrants the same urgency as direct physical threats when attacks are coordinated across borders, carry physical consequences, and target individuals for their human rights work.
Practical, accessible protection for defenders: Defenders need safe and trusted reporting mechanisms, funded access to digital security support, and clear legal pathways for recourse when attacks originate from foreign state actors or their proxies.
Platform accountability: Social media companies and messaging services must be required to detect, disrupt, and act swiftly on coordinated harassment campaigns targeting human rights defenders in exile.
Hong Kong Watch urges the United Nations to recognise and take seriously digital attacks that are happening against the Hong Kong diaspora and other dissidents worldwide.
Landson Chan, Advocacy Officer at Hong Kong Watch, said:
“What we presented to the United Nations today is not a collection of online incidents but a documented pattern of coordinated, cross-border intimidation. Doxxing, deepfakes, and threatening messages are tools designed not just to harm individuals, but to send a message to every Hong Kong activist in exile that nowhere is safe, and nothing they do online stays online. The physical consequences are real. The fear is real. And the international community must treat it as such. We urge the United Nations to take concrete steps to make the digital space a safe forum for free expression.”
You can read our full written submission to the OHCHR here.